My family

              My family is a big family. I have a father, a mother and a grandmother and also have three siblings; the oldest brother, an older sister and a young brother. Including a lovely our cat, we are eight of us. All of us live in Japan, and except me and my sister, my family lives in my hometown. Two of us are living in Tokyo.

My sister has lived in there for almost 7 years since she attended a college. She has obtained her job in downtown of Tokyo later. I also started living there almost 3 years ago, which was a same reason as my sister. We are really close sisters and sometimes hang out together. I have been her work place one time. She has been working at a clothing store in a moll as a sub manager. I just wanted to surprise her.

Also my brother will move to Tokyo soon, hopefully this spring. He wants to attend a college like us. Actually he has just finished exams for all colleges he applied for last week. I really hope he will pass them. I also look forward to going out with my brother and sister in Tokyo together.

A rest of my family lives in my home town, northwest of Japan, called Niigata. It takes 5 hours to get my city from Tokyo by using trains. My father runs a small business there, a textile business for gardening. He usually gets exhausted from the work, but I respect my father and like him. 

I like Gyoza!

              Gyoza is a one of kinds of dumpling that originally came from China. It is usually made of flour pastry filled with grinded pork and chopped vegetables. In Japan, Gyoza is really familiar as a family’s dish.

              There are many kinds of Gyoza stemmed from its way to cook. Generally, people cook Gyoza on a pan with strong heat. But we sometimes steam or boil them to get different taste. My favorite is actually boiled Gyoza with spicy soup. My mother used to cook it before I moved to Tokyo to attend my university. I really love Gyoza, and you will love it after you know that Gyoza is not only tasty also gives you a fun when you cook it.

              First step to make Gyoza starts at making wrappers that will cover ingredients. Prepare the bleached flour and warm water. Mix both them well with a hint of salt, after knead them until it becomes soft as earlobes place it in the fridge with a wrap for a half to an hour. Put it out the fridge onto a wood table veiled with flour, roll out into thin pieces. Cut with a cup placing upside down and repeat this until make 20 to 30 wrappers.

              Next step is making a staff inside Gyoza. Prepare ingredients; vegetables and grinded pork, seasonings. Chop the chives and cabbage, grate ginger and garlic. Combine the pork and them with salt and pepper and the oils into a large bowl. Ix everything together with your hands, making sure the mixture is not lumpy. Place the bowl into the fridge for 10 minutes.

              Then it is a fun time. Third step is making pre-Gyoza. Take a wrapper and place a small spoonful of the mixture in the middle. Dab a little water on the half of the wrapper’s edge and fold in two to make a semi-circle. While folding, pinch the two sides together and create waves while pinching. Repeat this step for all the wrappers.

              Finally, oil and heat a skillet on the stove. Put it medium heat and drop 8 to 10 pre-Gyoza making a circle. Fry them for 3 minutes, then reduce the heat. Add half a cup of water and cover it with a pan lid. Steam them until water evaporates. Add quarter a cup of flour water and wait until it gets a little burned. This step is called “Hane” meaning making wings. Then, place them on a plate, and we are ready to eat. This is the normal fried Gyoza.

There are many ways to enjoy Gyoza by changing ingredients like pork to shrimps, using different source, making original form of your Gyoza. That is why I love this food. We can enjoy using our ideas while cooking and eating. Gyoza is a really fun food.

What I miss about Japan

Since I came to US I have realized that there were a lot of Japanese foods I could eat here. For example, what I was surprised first was Sushi. Also I was amazed when I found a Japanese noodle and appetizers. But what I missed nowadays is Japanese local food that are basically hard to find here. Especially, I miss my favorite food in Kansai region "Okonomiyaki" and "Takoyaki".

Kansai food is one of Japanese cuisines people basically recognize it comes from Osaka. It is well known for its unique cooking style and seasoning. They basically use 'Teppan', flat-wide iron table that can be as warm as a pan. It is famous for served during Japanese traditional festivals such as a big fireworks show and a Japanese parade called Gion. These big events are held outside on main avenues or huge outside venues. We usually see a lot of vender stalls selling Kansai snacks for visitors. I have always loved eating them during those festivals.

"Okonomiyaki" is a Japanese pancake made of flour and eggs and many other ingredients. It is simple to cook it. First, we make a basic batter with flour, eggs and water. Then put some minced cabbages, ginger pickles and sliced meat. We sometimes put some sea food instead and add cheese or pieces of rice cake. Then spread it round on a warmed' Teppan'. After flip over it, we put source and mayo and other seasonings.

"Takoyaki" is a ball-shaped Japanese snack served as well as "Okonomiyaki” by stalls. It needs a different kind of “Teppan” which is special for making it and has many holes to make ball shape. Ingredients are almost same as “Okonomiyaki”. One thing different is that we put chopped octopus in center of a ball.

Both are popular food in traditional events. We can buy them at a pretty cheap price and could eat outside enjoying festivals. Also they smell really fragrant and are appetizing us. “Teppan” is usually warmed up high temperature so that their surface feel crunch and inside are very soft. When you eat “Takoyaki” you need to be careful because its inside is really hot even though surface is not so.

              I really wish there was a place or festival where we could eat them. Actually if I have a “Teppan” I can make them myself. But it is also a fun to watch how they are cooked and wait it chatting with friends. I miss my favorite foods “Okonomiyaki” and ”Takoyaki”. I hope that a Kansai food restaurant will open in Chicago one day.